Helen's Mate
by romansilence
Summary: It's a dark and stormy night, or is it?


Disclaimer: The characters and background stories of Sanctuary do not belong to me, unfortunately, but to Damian kindler and Stage1Media. I just take them out to play. No copyright infringement is intended, no profit will be made.

A/N: Takes place after Sanctuary, season 3 s episode Awakening , but it s not meant as a missing scene entry. I wrote it as the first half of a Tetris extra on my Sanctuary Bingo Round Two card, prompts: Afina and Docks . It was inspired by the movie Dracula (USA 1992, directed by Francis Ford Coppola) and the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (of which I borrowed 37 words, btw. I did not mark them with quotation marks, so, good luck finding them). Sanctuary Bingo Round Three has just started, so, now I ll use it as my first fill for Round Three WILDCARD = the Docks .

Pairing: Helen/Afina, Helen/Kate Rating: NC-17 (consensual sex between two women).

Summary: It was a dark and stormy night in which everything seemed possible, or was it?

* * *

Helen s Mate

by

romansilence

* * *

Helen Magnus, head of the Sanctuary Network, stood on the ramparts of the second highest tower of her home in Old City and looked out at the most spectacular sunset she had ever seen from this spot. Actually, it was the most amazing sunset she had seen in the sixty-plus years since she had made the then abandoned former Abbey her home. It might even be the most formidable sunset she had seen in her one hundred and sixty years of life.

Rationally she knew that the splendid display of colours was nothing more than the precursor of the storm about to break that night. The weather-sensitive of the Sanctuary s Residents had warned about that storm to come almost two days ago. That unusually early warning should have told her that it would be anything but an ordinary storm, but Helen had not had the time to give it any thought. With Will, Kate and Henry on a mission she had not paid it any attention until the wind which had chased the clouds relentlessly from one end of the horizon to the other the whole day long had died down, abruptly, without warning.

Helen had been about to check the windows of the rooms in the West Tower and spontaneously decided to go all the way up. The West Tower had been Ashley s favourite vantage point, and Helen found herself avoiding it ever since her daughter s death.

This afternoon was different. Helen had always preferred the view from the North Tower. It let her look down on Old and New City alike and from the first time she had stood there it had been a constant reminder of what she had long ago sworn to protect, normals and abnormals alike and it had always been her refuge, that view had also been one of the selling points of the former Abbey for her new Sanctuary, together with the clandestine access to the sea and a few othe perks. Ashley, however, had always loved to look out towards the sea, even as a small child. They had spent countless evenings observing the sun dropping below the horizon, with Helen s arms wrapped securely around her daughter s waist. That had never changed when they had been together on the West Tower, not even after Ashley had outgrown the need to be protected, not even during her turbulent teenage years when Ashley had gone for months without allowing anyone to touch her, even casually.

But that was in the past. She would never again get the chance to hold her daughter, not here on the tower, not anywhere else. This evening Helen was alone on the tower, and Ashley s absence was like a stab through the heart, piercing and bloodletting, and yet not enough to end her life. A few years ago the French singer Patricia Kaas had had it right. pour tre femme on peut bien briser son me plusi res fois, in other words a woman s heart can be broken more than once The pain in her heart, however, did not make the sunset any less spectacular or impressive it also did not make her less receptive to its particular beauty.

The stillness of the air was mirrored by the sudden stillness of the disjoint flock of clouds, punctuated by flakes of clear, blue sky, and as if to emphasise the unusual phenomenon, the sounds drifting up to her from Old City and the docks seemed strangely muted. The sun sank steadily lower and tinted the myriad of clouds in every sunset colour, flame, purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold, with here and there masses not large, but of seemingly absolute blackness, in all sorts of shapes, as well outlined as colossal silhouettes.

The moment the last rays disappeared fog rose up from the water as if it had just waited for the sun to go down. After the symphony of colours the sight of the grey mist devouring the horizon and forming what looked like an impenetrable wall was rather sobering and Helen turned her back to it. She re-entered the Sanctuary and made sure that the door was closed and locked. Helen then resumed the task that had brought her here in the first place, to check the windows and shutters.

The West Tower was rather vulnerable to storms coming in from the Pacific. Years ago the cost for replacement windows had rivalled her annual weapons budget just because she and her staff had been remiss in closing the windows thoroughly. Helen had not so much minded the cost but the inconvenience of work crews invading her home for weeks on end.

Helen spent the next couple of hours talking to those of her Residents who needed just a bit of assurance and sedate those who were more sensitive to the inclement weather and tended to either get depressed or aggressive. She helped the Big Guy with the evening feedings and retired to her study for some endless paperwork just when the storm finally broke.

These days most of the so-called paperwork was digitalised. In contrast to Will who preferred old fashioned paper files for his patients she had not to lift too many actual pieces of paper. Still, it was tedious work Helen didn t especially relish having to do. So, when a flash of lightning illuminated the night sky a couple of hours later Helen used the distraction to get up and look out of her window.

The dark clouds were hanging low, lightning bolts punctuated by thunder emphasised the eerie stillness of the clouds shedding their load of heavy rain. Helen knew that sooner or later the wind would pick up again and drive the rain against the windows. To Helen it looked like a pretty normal storm, despite the warnings of the residents and the unusual sunset, except for that fog that still hung on the horizon like a solid impenetrable wall.

Helen reluctantly returned to her desk and the intricacies of Italian tax refunds. Having made at least some progress Two hours later she called it a night and retired to her private rooms where she quickly fell asleep; expecting fully to be woken up in a couple of hours due to one emergency or the other. It never failed to happen when more than half of her staff was otherwise engaged as they were that night stuck in a provincial airport closed due to the inclement weather.

-x-x-x-

Helen opened her eyes to darkness, abruptly. Something felt wrong. She looked around, mentally cataloguing the familiar shadowy outlines of her bedroom furniture, half expecting to see John step towards her as he had done countless times in the past though she knew that the EM shield was active and that even he had not yet found a way to get through them. She listened carefully to the sounds behind the now howling wind and the rain being thrown against the window panes. Something felt wrong, but there was nothing unusual. The Sanctuary was as quiet as it got during the night considering the number of night-dwellers among the residents.

Helen closed her eyes and settled back against her pillows. She tried to fall asleep again but the feeling that something was off, that something was wrong persisted. So, she stood up and pulled a black, almost diaphanous robe over her silk nightgown. She looked out of her window and saw that the wall of fog had descended on Old City; for some strange reason stopping just shy of the outer walls of the Sanctuary.

The fog was as thick and foreboding as London s fogs once had been over a century and a half ago when she had still been a child and electricity in every room a dream of the future, not to talk about mobiles and computers. Old City had disappeared completely behind the fog. Helen looked down on an unbroken sea of light grey and white that seemed to swallow sound and light alike. Not even the multi-coloured lights of New City s skyline were able to penetrate the fog s density. Helen never before had seen fog coming down on either city this hard. Yes, it was unusual, but all in all nothing more but one of Mother Nature s whims, Helen thought when she turned away from the window ready to go back to bed.

She stopped mid-step and turned her head towards the door. She heard something, a voice, no, not really a voice. It was more a whisper, a whisper without words that called to her, an indistinct sound she felt compelled to follow. So, Helen told herself that she would just check on the Residents, just one of her late night strolls to keep in touch with all of her people.

Outside of her apartment the whisper became louder. It crept right into her head, and Helen followed. She followed it along the corridor, away from the residential areas and the secure habitats. She followed the whispering down the open stairwell into the main foyer and wasn t even surprised when the heavy double doors swung open of their own accord. She had seen the Big Guy locking the main entrance hours ago and the panel next to the door signalled that the security system was armed and running. Still, Helen paid no attention to the inconsistency.

She stepped through the doors and walked on the cobbled pavement to the iron wrought gate shutting the Sanctuary off from the outside world. It too opened automatically at her approach as if she had suddenly developed some of Nikola s abilities in manipulating electric currents.

Helen left her home and didn t look back. Had she paid attention she would have seen that both the main door and the gate stayed wide open but that the omnipresent fog still stayed clear of the Sanctuary as if an invisible barrier was holding it back.

She walked through the streets of Old City, following that whisper in her head and wherever she put her satin clad feet the fog retreated, clearing a path for her. Helen knew those streets as well as the almost unchanging lines of her face, but on that night familiarity made no difference.

Helen felt the rain hitting her face and soaking her robe and nightgown but she just walked on. The wind whipped her long dark hair over her eyes and in her face, but she did not even try to brush it aside. She just walked, driven by the need to find the source of that whisper, driven past the dwellings of abnormals and normals alike. Surprisingly She did not see or meet any other soul, but it did not intrigue her as it usually would have. There always were creatures that thrived on nights like this one but no pair of eyes observed her passage from the sidelines and no one left their shelter to greet her.

But Helen was oblivious to everything around her. She walked through wind and rain as if it didn t even touch her, the fog parting in front of her and closing behind her as if by magic. It seemed to keep its distance even from the robe billowing behind her. No, contrary to her first impression, apparently it was not a night like other nights and not a storm like other storms.

-x-x-x-

Further out on the sea, outside of the ring the fog had drawn around Old and New City, a cargo ship heavily laden with containers had to effectuate an emergency stop. Its whole body screamed when the engines were abruptly put in reverse to avoid a collision with another smaller cargo ship heading straight towards Old City.

The other ship was sailing under a North-African flag with the name Demeter written in blood-red letters on its sides and stern. It had just been there, practically out of nowhere. It had not registered on the radar and was running without positioning lights, heading full speed towards the fog. And The fog seemed to part for it.

Though also headed for the docks of Old City the captain of the container ship stayed clear of the strange fog, guided by deep seated superstition as well as the knowledge gained by experience that on a night like this no harbour master and no dockhands would be waiting to unload his cargo. He still sent a warning to the authorities about the other ship though, now that it was gone the encounter no longer seemed real to him.

-x-x-x-

Helen had passed the thin strip of industrialized area that had survived the general migration towards New City about four decades ago and was now walking through the warehouse district, still seemingly the only sentient being alive and about that night. Just like the fog, wind and rain now seemed to give her a wide berth but Helen still was oblivious to her surroundings, still driven by the voiceless whisper in her head.

Helen stepped out between two of her own warehouses onto the abandoned dock. She looked out towards the water, into the fog, waiting. The whisper became louder, louder and denser though it was still indistinct, unintelligible, but it was no longer important. Her heart was filled with a strong sense of joy and everything was suddenly crystal clear to her. She knew now what it was that had driven her here.

Helen raised her arms and stretched them out as if in greeting. The fog parted to the left and the right and seemed then to retreat, opening up the view upon the smaller cargo ship and it s brightly coloured flag. The strange stillness and silence of the night was not broken by the sound of engines when the Demeter slid into place as if guided by a silent, invisible hand.

Right in front of where Helen stood a bay door opened about eight feet over the highest point of the docks. A gangway lowered itself with a soft thud that was immediately absorbed by the eerie quiet of the night. The whisper condensed even more. It became a word, a word spoken in a voice Helen would have recognised anywhere in the world. She let her arms sink to the side and looked up.

A figure glided down the ramp, revealing a long, deep purple gown, ample cleavage and a stern face with forbidding, black eyes. Helen smiled at the woman.

"I heeded your call, Afina."

"Of course you did, you unruly child. You tried your best to kill me with your Praxean trickery. I should make you pay for that, instead I will turn you into my instrument for the rebirth of the Sanguine Vampiris, Afina said with a sinister smile."

Helen s own smile did not waver and her voice was calm, "No, you will not, Afina. You did not survive to rule this world. Times have changed."

"I called you and you came. You are mine," Afina said in a voice that had dropped at least an octave.

"Do not growl, last of the great Queens. Yes, your voice called to me, and I heeded its call, but my blood called to you, Afina, and you heeded its call. What do you think is stronger?"

!Insolent pet. I should have made you mine then," Afina s voice had dropped at least an octave.

Noticing the activity around them stemming from the ship, Helen said, "Your slaves may use my warehouses, for now." She then raised her hand and touched the other woman s cheek. It was warm to the touch, "You fed well on your journey, and that is why then would not have been a good time. This is not about feeding."

"You call me the last Queen, Helen Magnus of the Sanctuary, and yet I can make more of my kind," Afina said.

"You can make slaves and thralls and servants but that will not bring back your bloodline," Helen said calmly.

Afina mirrored Helen s gesture and put her hand on her cheek, "And neither can you, Helen Magnus."

"No, I cannot, but can you deny the call, Afina? And there also is no need."

"What makes you think that it s your blood that s calling me? Afina asked. That skinny man has at least some of my essence."

"It was not him you called. It was not his blood calling you or you would not have come here," Helen answered.

"No, it was not his blood. I can feel your essence pulsing under my fingers. I feel a need, a need deeper than hunger."

"As do I, Afina, now that you re here. No one else would have heard your call."

Afina s lips parted and her incisors lengthened, "I claim you, Helen. You will be mine, my pet."

"I will be yours," Helen said without flinching away from the slowly morphing face, "and you will be mine, my mate, not my pet, to command and to obey, blood of my blood. That is why you called to me. That is what your whispering voice craved. You need an equal, not a pet."

Afina finally returned Helen s smile. She removed her hand from Helen s cheek, bent her index finger and sliced the skin at her throat. Blood welled up immediately.

"Then rise to the challenge. Drink my life and my essence, Helen Magnus. Prove that you are a worthy mate, if you can. Withstand the power of my blood and show the strength of your own. Try what never has succeeded before. Drink if you dare but beware of the consequences."

Helen s smile widened as she inhaled deeply. She didn t need any further prompting to step closer and put her lips over the bleeding wound. Afina's jugular was merely knicked and Helen wasted no time to deepen the slice as best as she could. She bit down hard and was rewarded with a moan. Helen s mouth filled with Afina s blood and it felt like her tastebuds would explode.

Yes, in the past she more than once had licked a drop or two of blood from a scratch she had given a lover but never before had blood tasted like that. Even if she had been interested in putting it into words, it probably would have defied her powers of description. And it was not only the taste.

The scent of blood was familiar to her; after all she was a doctor. She knew that not every blood smelled the same. Nikola s blood had a more tangy scent than her own and she knew that her own smelled richer than the blood of a normal human. Again, nothing compared to Afina s smell, simultaneously familiar and completely foreign.

Helen felt the blood run down her throat. She relished how it burned going down like a good brandy and drank more greedily. Afina s blood was not only calling to her. It rose up inside of her, filling her in more than just a physical way. It rose up inside of her and demanded obedience, complete devotion.

The tiny, still rational part of Doctor Helen Magnus knew that this was why Afina had so readily agreed to give her her essence. That rational part had the sudden insight that drinking the blood of not any Vampire but of their Queen would have any ordinary person fall under her spell irrevocably. It was how she created those she held in thrall without turning them. That rational part, however, at the moment had no say.

At the moment Helen just enjoyed, but then she felt Afina s hands with the elongated nails grab her shoulders; and her own blood rose to the challenge of Afina s blood. Helen had never known from which kind of vampire the source blood had come but she clearly felt that it more than held its own against the intruder in her blood stream. Helen s blood swept Afina s influence away, leaving only an undeniable sense of familiarity behind.

Helen relaxed and felt a new kind of strength welling up inside of her. Not even the first time the source blood serum had entered her blood stream had she felt as invincible as she did now, an incredible, exhilarating rush, more potent than any drug or orgasm she had ever experienced.

Afina s nails dug into her shoulders now and Helen stopped feeding. She took a step back and made visual contact with the ancient Vampire Queen. Her eyes were clear with a provocative twinkle. Though Afina s features were still in their vampire form her surprise was evident when she saw those sparkling blue eyes instead of the haze-filled dull orbs to which she seemed to be used, or which she had probably expected to see.

Helen didn t comment on it. She just repositioned Afina s hands from her shoulders to her hips and swept her dark hair to the side, offering her throat. Afina growled and fell on Helen s jugular with a vengeance. Her incisors pierced Helen s skin as if it were a single layer of delicate silk paper. Helen s blood was leaving her body at a faster rate than she had sucked down Afina s blood.

Helen let her have her way but was ready to push her back with all of her strength the moment she would start to feel in any way faint, but Afina surprised her and stopped herself. She licked Helen s wound close and tried to step back. Helen grabbed her wrists and held her still, patiently waiting for the other woman to look up and meet her eyes.

Afina s pupils were dilated and for a moment Helen thought she saw silver sparkles in them but the Vampire Queen quickly cast them down again. Helen closed the distance between them and cupped Afina s face in both of her hands. She smiled at her and kissed her, a soft reassuring kiss at least that s what it was supposed to be. Afina s lips opened the moment Helen s lips touched hers, inviting her in.

Afina s hips pressed against Helen s. Helen took the invitation. Her tongue darted forward. She expected at least some response, instead Afina let Helen explore her mouth thoroughly and only answered with the most tentative of touches to Helen s overtures. It was a shy offer for Helen to go further, to become more forceful, and Afina emphasised that offer by moulding her whole body against Helen s as if a second skin. Afina s whole arrogance seemed to be evaporated, vanished into the night.

When Helen broke the kiss and made visual contact she was confronted with an expression on Afina s now completely human face she never would have expected to see. For the first time since having accidentally awakened the Vampire Queen the woman s smile had nothing foreboding or sinister and there was real warmth in her eyes, warmth and wonder and adoration.

Helen let her index and middle finger rest on the already faint bite mark on Afina s neck and asked with a mischievous twinkle in the eyes, "Do you still think that I would make a good pet, Afina?"

"No, but I can feel deep inside of me that you will be a good mistress, Helen Magnus of the Sanctuary, my mistress," Afina s voice was soft and honest but Helen did not take her seriously and continued to banter.

"The Queen of the genetically and intellectually most advanced race to ever walk the earth bows to a mere mortal. There must be more in it for you than my kisses."

"Your kisses are a very strong incentive, but there is nothing mere about you and your blood tells me with every breath I take that you're more immortal than mortal. Did you not know that even vampires age, Doctor Helen Magnus?"

Helen studied Afina s face and saw the open sincerity in her eyes. To hide her confusion she held onto Afina s hands and said, "It seems that I still have a lot to learn about my mate."

Afina allowed the touch but took a step back and got down on her right knee, "With my people mates are equal. The power of their blood is equal. You can not be my mate, Helen of the Sanctuary. Your blood conquered mine when I drank from you and your blood conquered mine when you drank from me."

"You are not like anyone I ever met. Your blood called to me from the first moment of my awakening. I mistook it for hunger then and I was distracted by that little mongrel. I should have felt it then and I can no longer deny it now."

"Every member of the sanguine vampiris, even the Queen, has to follow the call of the strongest blood, your blood. We have to serve the strongest blood, and you have conquered mine, Mistress Helen."

"I tasted the Mongrels blood, it s not like yours, there was still enough of it in my chamber after I had clawed my way out of your Praxean trap, It s potent, but not potent enough. It would not have conquered me as yours did. What makes your blood so strong is the fact that the blood of my kind has blended perfectly with yours. A truly unique combination."

As if a four gigabyte memory stick had suddenly been downloaded into her head Afina s words made Helen remember everything she had ever read about the sanguine vampiris and everything Nikola had ever told her and a lot of things she was sure she had never known or heard before. It opened her eyes and allowed her to say what Afina needed to hear and it also answered a few questions about the Source Blood James and her had never been able to answer..

"Rise, Afina of the Sanctuary, rise and look at me but not as my servant. You are right, you can not be my mate. Be my consort, mine and yet the one above the many."

Afina s dark eyes sparkled and this time Helen clearly saw the silvery hue in her eyes. Her nose picked up a faint scent of arousal and she pulled the other woman in her arms. They kissed. Afina even returned the kiss but she did not try to dominate it in any way. Helen knew why. Part of following the call of the strongest blood was an inability to fight that strength once conquered. A tiny part of her already missed the challenge.

For now, however, she had a consort to claim from head to toe, and she had no intention whatsoever to do that out in the open on the docks. Helen gave Afina another lingering kiss, enjoying the softness of her lips, "Come, it s time to bring you home, my consort."

"My minions have prepared a comfortable place for us to rest or play," Afina said in a throaty whisper that sent a slight shiver down Helen s spine.

"You know you will have to let them go, my dear."

"They could do good work serving you but if that is your wish it will be done, my mistress," Afina said while she let her hands run up and down Helen s back.

"It is my wish, Afina-mine, and the only place I want to take you is my own bed at the Sanctuary."

"I would love to see your home, Mistress," Afina said softly. "I will send them away."

"It s your home now as well, my consort. Come to the warehouse on your right, the small back entrance as soon as you have set them free. I ll have some transportation waiting. And Afina, set them free and send them away. Do not kill them."

"Yes, Mistress Helen, it will be done." Afina walked towards the first warehouse but turned around after a few steps and cast Helen a smouldering look.

Helen pushed the black and chrome bike out into the night air. She didn t use it often but she had always loved the combination of elegance and power for which the old Harley stood. Helen had already mounted the bike and revved up the engine when Afina rounded the corner.

"It is done, Mistress. They will return home now."

!Well done, my dear. Call me Helen, please. Do not forget, Afina, you re my consort, not my servant."

Afina didn t reply with words and did not meet Helen s eyes but when Helen pulled her closer for another kiss there was a definitive twinkle in her eyes

-x-x-x-

Helen woke up from feeling a hand on her shoulder and hearing her name being called softly. She recognised the voice and opened her eyes to the dimmed light of her bedside lamp. She smiled instinctively at the younger woman, and then her gaze fell on Kate s throat. She scanned the room without turning her head as if she half expected to find the former Vampire Queen sleeping at her side. Still half in her dream world, Helen raised her arms and pulled Kate closer, close enough to lick the steadily pulsing jugular. Kate craned her neck, offering the enticing spot up to Helen, if inadvertently or not, neither woman would later be able to tell.

Helen s sensitive sense of smell took in a mix of Kate s sweat and a faint whiff of arousal. She smiled before she bit down, not hard, not enough to break the skin, just enough to make Kate moan and make her bend closer. Helen began to suck, hard. It would undoubtedly make for a formidable, cover-makeup defying hickey. Helen s right hand sneaked under Kate s shirt. She expertly unclasped her bra and caressed Kate s left breast without letting go of her neck.

Kate scooted closer, knelt on the bed and pushed Helen back down on the mattress. She stayed close enough to allow Helen to keep up her possessive suction but busied herself with undoing the laces on Helen s black nightgown. She slowly uncovered Helen s firm breasts but only touched them with her fingertips. Helen s nipples were already rock hard and Kate s soft, almost ephemeral touch made them even harder.

Kate pinched the left nipple in a sudden, unexpected move. Helen gasped and letting go of Kate s throat she looked up. Their gazes met. Helen s eyes were not the only ones dilated in arousal.

"Hello, my Kate, what a pleasant surprise. Welcome home!"

"It s good to be home, Helen-mine, especially after such a welcome. When I came in I thought you in the grip of a nightmare but from your reaction I guess that I was wrong. Will you tell me? Kate asked while Helen pulled Kate s shirt over her head and made her shrug off the already opened bra.

Helen pulled Kate in a kiss and Kate claimed Helen s mouth and tongue and lips. Helen reprociated and their tongues began to move in an intricate dance, at the same time familiar and new every time. Kate and Helen had been together for almost a year now but even their kisses had yet to get boring or routine, not to speak of the rest of their intimate activities. When they had to break the kiss Kate repeated her question.

"It was a strange dream, to say the least, but for now, my darling Kate, I have something more pleasurable in mind, something that does not involve a lot of talking," Helen said and opened the button of Kate s jeans. "You are way overdressed, my Kate, and I intent to thoroughly enjoy the unexpected gift of your presence. Now, let me help you out of those cumbersome clothes."

Helen pushed Kate s trousers down as far as her arms would reach. Kate laughed, "So eager, my Helen, but you always tell me that patience is a virtue. Let s put that to the test, shall we?"

Kate pressed Helen s hands onto the mattress, effectively immobilizing them. She bent down and closed her lips around Helen s left nipple. She flicked it with the tip of her tongue in a random rhythm that made it hard for the other woman to think or protest. Kate knew her just too well and she used that knowledge to make Helen s body and soul sing.

-x-x-x-

Helen arched her back and moaned, and for the next few hours there really was not much talking, coherent talking, instead there were moans and groans and the occasional shriek. When they finally sank in each other s arms, sated and exhausted, a comforter drawn over their naked, sweaty bodies, Kate asked again, So, that strange dream you had, what was is about?

"I ll tell you, I promise, but first tell me: how did the mission go?" Helen said, already half back to business.

"We came, we bagged, we tagged and brought the Cragroxora to the habitat you chose for him. It was so easy Will or Henry could have done that one alone," Kate said with a smile that failed to be innocent.

Helen rewarded her with a rare, carefree, crystal clear laugh, "Oh, I m quite sure that young William s report will paint another picture and tell me of untold, unexpected dangers."

Kate answered with a laugh of her own, "You might find Hank s report more colourful this time, Doc. The Cragroxora took a shine on him. It peed on him. It obviously thought that our HAP was one of his offspring and needed its protection. After it had marked Hank it was child s play to bag it."

"Poor Henry, I must think of something nice to do for him, but all in all the Cragroxora s affinity for Henry could come in handy should we find more of its kind or encounter trouble in the new habitat."

"I love the way you always think five steps ahead. It s very sexy, Doctor Helen Magnus. And concerning Hank, on the way to our hunting ground he was ranting on and on about that geek-fest in San Diego. Just an idea. And now, Helen-mine, tell me about your dream," Kate said and started to nibble her way up from Helen s shoulder to her throat.

"You still have not told how you got around the tiny obstacle of your cancelled flight, my Kate. You can t just leave me hanging with half of a story, Helen said in a calm voice that betrayed nothing of the difficulty she had to keep her composure."

"I could," Kate answered and made visual contact with Helen, "but it s easy, nothing mysterious. Our scheduled flight was cancelled. They even closed the airport due to the storm front said to be coming in. The airport authorities fifty miles north were not as over-cautious. So, we rented a car and drove there. Most other travellers were not that adventurous or as desperate to get home as I was. It was almost more difficult to find a cab driver willing to bring us to Old City than getting to New City s airport in the first place, considering the thickness of the fog outside."

"But you managed," It was not exactly a question.

"Yes, we managed, much to Will s surprise. I was motivated to get home and I can be very persuasive if I want to be or have to be. After two nights spent in a tent next to Henry and Will s tent I was more than ready to go home. Those two could not be quiet if their lives depended on it," Kate answered and then returned her attention to Helen s throat. "You smell like sex and you taste even better, Helen-mine. Do you know how much I love being able to call you mine in the privacy of your bedroom or mine?"

"Yes, my Kate, I think I could make a pretty accurate guess. I would not mind you claiming me like this in less private situations. It s not as if our relationship is a big secret."

Without conscious thought Kate mirrored Helen s earlier actions and sucked her jugular but by far not as hard as Helen had done. She was careful not to leave any tell-tale marks, but she still soon heard Helen moan and felt her writhing in her grasp. Kate smiled inwardly and abruptly stopped her ministrations when she was sure that Helen was thoroughly enjoying them.

Her eyes were dilated in arousal when she turned just enough to look into Helen s darkened blue eyes, "Tell me about your dream, please."

"And good old Will would blush every time he hears it, at the presumption alone.

Only because he never stood a chance, not for lack of trying.

Your dream, please, Helen."

"Oh my, you are insistent. You really want me to think about a boring dream when reality right in front of me is so much more enticing and inspiring."

Kate s eyes widened in sudden understanding, "Helen Magnus, you are stalling. What s so embarrassing about that dream that you don t want to tell me? Did you dream about having sex with Hank in his HAP form?"

"Good Lord, Kate, where did you get that idea?" Helen asked in a slightly admonishing tone after she had recovered from the very undignified giggle that imaginary had elicited. "Henry is like a son to me, besides could you imagine William s reaction. He might be willing to share Henry with Erika, just as he has Abby on the side, but he would instantaneously birth a centaur if he found one of us with his were."

Kate, at first slightly embarrassed by Helen s serious tone, laughed at her words, "Birth a centaur, that s a new one, Helen-mine. But to be honest, I would not want to share you with Will either, or with anyone else."

The last part of the sentence had only been whispered, but Helen had still heard it and felt the sudden insecurity in the young woman s eyes. "I do not share easily, my Kate, do not worry. I m yours alone, just like you are mine."

Helen punctuated her words with a passionate kiss and was rewarded with Kate s shy smile and a slightly accelerated heartbeat. Where did that come from, darling?"

"It s nothing, Helen. It s just..." Kate fell silent and tried to look away.

"Kate, please, tell me."

Kate slowly looked up and the love and patience she saw on Helen s face gave her the courage to talk of her fears, "It s just that sometimes when I look at you, so beautiful, so perfect, so wise. I don t understand what you see in me. You re a princess, no, a Queen, and I m nothing but a street urchin, a beg ..."

"Hush, darling, you re not a beggar. You earned your place at the Sanctuary and even before you joined us your reputation preceded you. You always had your heart in the right place, you are smarter than you give yourself credit for, you are one of the best, if not the best and most inventive lover I ever had. You are not a street urchin, you are street-wise. You are not a beggar, you are my mate, my equal in everything that counts."

Helen made sure to hold Kate s gaze. She wanted her to know that she meant every single word. She patiently waited for the shy smile to bloom into a wider smile that illuminated Kate s whole face, a smile she only reserved for private moments with Helen. When Helen was sure that Kate had overcome her bout of insecurity, she pressed her down on the mattress and propped herself up at her side. She made visual contact and began to caress Kate s firm breasts and sides and stomach.

"You are my mate, Kate, my equal. You are what I want, but tonight I dreamed about a lover I would never want in real life. It all started with one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen"

Half an hour later Helen had shared every detail of her dream with her partner, her mate, and Kate looked at her with wide eyes. Moments later a mischievous twinkle appeared in the corner of her eyes.

"Wow! That s one hell of a dream. Helen Magnus of the Sanctuary, Vampire Queen. Well, I could have told that Afina from the beginning that she stood no chance against you. You are irresistible, and not only your blood. Nothing stands a chance against you, not even the so-called highest developed race that ever walked the Earth, you Doctor Magnus are a force of nature."

Kate rolled them over and reversed their positions. She kissed Helen s forehead. "The way you sometimes frown at us is irresistible."

Kate kissed Helen s eyes. "The way you roll your eyes at the boys when they do something stupid is irresistible."

Kate kissed the tip of Helen s nose. "The way you smell is irresistible, in the morning, after a work-out, and of course in bed with me."

Kate kissed Helen s lips, but this time she didn t get the chance to say anything because Helen kissed back, fervently, passionately, breathtakingly. And when they had to finally break the kiss, "Who would want an old, bedraggled Vampire Queen when I can have you, my Kate."

The END


End file.
